Infectious disease

Janet Golden, PhD, Professor of history, Rutgers University-Camden

Friday, June 5, 2015, 6:30 AM

With more than 1,600 people quarantined in South Korea and outbreaks elsewhere, you may be wondering: what is MERS and do I need to worry?
Here are some quick facts:
MERS (technically MERS-CoV) stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronovirus. In plain language, MERS is a viral respiratory...
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Janet Golden, PhD, Professor of history, Rutgers University-Camden

Thursday, April 30, 2015, 6:30 AM

Last month, Timothy Hayden returned to Australia (where I’m currently based) after coordinating the WASH activities Aspen Medical for four remote Ebola Treatment Units in Liberia. I interviewed him about his work there and in other regions of the globe—including the Philippines, the Solomon...
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Amy Blum

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 6:30 AM

“Solve the Outbreak,” a free app developed for the general public by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, immerses game players in the world of Disease Detectives, the CDC’s equivalent of a SWAT team. These members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) are the on-the-ground...
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Jeffrey P. Baker, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Duke University

Monday, February 9, 2015, 6:30 AM

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky confirmed his membership in the “doctors who shouldn’t have gone into politics” club with his comments last week supporting the right of parents who don’t want their kids to be immunized. While acknowledging vaccines to be “one of the greatest...
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Janet Golden and Michael Yudell

Friday, February 6, 2015, 6:30 AM

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is rightfully taking a drubbing this week for his comments about the measles vaccine and his claim that parents "need to have some measure of choice" about vaccinating their children.
In the midst of what threatens to be the worst year for measles in the United States...
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Janet Golden, PhD, Professor of history, Rutgers University-Camden

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 5:30 AM

During the last weeks, as Americans watched health care workers don protective equipment before treating patients in West Africa with Ebola, I was donning my own protective garb—a yellow hospital gown and purple gloves—so that I could visit a friend in the hospital. She had Clostridium Difficile...
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Connie Ulrich and Julie Fairman, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 6:30 AM

The Ebola crisis in West Africa continues to rage unabated. The suffering of adults, children, and communities is unparalleled. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that nearly 5,000 people have died, including more than 300 healthcare workers.
The lack of public infrastructure, including...
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Janet Golden, PhD, Professor of history, Rutgers University-Camden

Thursday, October 30, 2014, 6:30 AM

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed 50 to 100 million people around the world. The death toll is uncertain because we do not have good figures from China, India, and other parts of Asia. One thing we do know, where some saw death, others saw opportunity. Quack remedies-to cure quickly appeared on...
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Ebola is rightly frightening people worldwide because of its graphic symptoms, high mortality rates, and perceived infectivity. Over the past few weeks, as we watched one man in Dallas die from Ebola and two of his health providers battle it–with another, unrelated case identified Thursday night...
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Janet Golden, PhD, Professor of history, Rutgers University-Camden

Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 6:30 AM

The disease is terrifying. Many of the stricken are left in the streets to die horrible deaths, their bodies unclaimed. Thousands flee. The government appears helpless to stop the scourge from spreading. Physicians and nurses offer care, but have no effective methods of treatment or means to prevent...
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